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Dark Forest Fortress was released in 1996 for the Forestmen. The fortress has a defensive catapult, living area, a jail with a skeleton, and a collapsing tree. A Dragon Master wagon complete with a driver, soldier, and treasure must pass by the fortress and its four forestmen. This set had a limited release in Europe and was not pictured in many catalogs.

Last edited by architect on Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:48 am, edited 2 times in total.

Jacob C. wrote:I don't think the set was just limited to Europe....I bought this set in a store here in the U.S. (Florida) back in 96 or 97. I remember spending my christmas money on it.

I think he meant that it had a limited release in Europe. He said nothing about it not being in North America, just that it was hard to get in Europe.

I love this set. I got it for Christmas, and it stands today as the best Christmas gift ever.

The set design is somewhat riddiculas. I mean, the hideout isn't exactly hidden. The Dragon Masters/Black Knights would have to be really stupid not to see the Blue roofs and the stable.

Apart from that, its a great set. The pieces alone make it a very worth while thing to buy. Between the figs, baseplate and the brown corner pieces. Also, it was the last set with both Dragon Master and Black Knight shields.

And then there is the Black Knight/Dragon Master guys. A nice addition, if somewhat strange. The whole concept of different factions makes the set way more fun to play with. Though TLC obviously didn't care about the faction part of things if they had two different shields on the same wagon. But then, those shields are very similar. Still bugs me though.

A poor design in my opinion from an aesthetic/parts assessment, but a fun one to play with, and that's what matters, right?

I love the fig complement of the set, although the Dragon Master with the Black Monarch shield always annoyed me. As a set, it's a good source of greenery and has some useful plates and bricks, but too few in my opinion...

I walked into a walmart once after Fright Knigts had pretty much disappeared from the shelves, and there on an endcap were 23 Dark Forest Fortresses.

The set itself does not rank amongst the greats, but by today's standards, it's not bad. a fair number of figs, a coach for the bandits to rob, and the makings of a forest lair. It also has my very favorite generic fig torso: studded leather. It is an absolute shame that this great torso only appeared in one large set. 7/10

Redwine the Ribald: Stare long enough into the abyss...
Two-Tonic Tippler: ...and you spit into it.

When I first roamed www.brickset.com in the year 2000 I was struck by the sight of this set. Although I had gotten a catalogue every day I had never seen this Forest Fortress before, and I swore and cussed in the general direction of Billund/DK.... Well, I later learned that it _was_ available in Germany and that I just didn't go to the right shop to buy it. But how was I supposed to know that I would have to search for this set at all when there was not the subtliest indication of this set in the catalogue?

However, I like this set. Maybe I like it because it is rare (in Germany), but I like everything green and wood-ish in General. And the Dark Forest Figs are amongst my favourite figs of all. I like the gulch that's used to ambush the gold transports, and the fallen tree is a cool idea. The design of the prison in the treetop is somewhat weird, though.

Bye
Jojo

This is just the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.Winston Churchill

I remember my brother received this as a gift one year. We never assembled it, and now we've long since lost the pieces. It looks to be quite a nice set. The design isn't necessarily the best, but it's a fun one, at least.The trees are very attractive, in my opinion. One holds
a long since deceased prisoner, and the other is a ploy to stop travelers passing through. The mini-figs are great, I still have them. Nice baseplate, too. I can't say much more, since I technically do not own this set anymore. I would love to pick one up eventually.

But it was thirty dollars, and I only had twenty, so I settled on Hemlock Stronghold, which is a great set, but doesn't have as many men, weapons, tree (brown) parts, gimmicks, or what not. And I love the baseplate too ... those hilly forest roads ... they're really cool.

Something I loved about the Dark Forest hideout sets, you could get this, and Hemlock Stronghold, and basically link up the baseplates with some 2x2 gray plates or any grey bricks, and have a secret forestman village behind those 'trees'.